Term	Definition
AGENCY	A public or private organization acting for others.
AICC	American Indian Children's Council.
COLLABORATION	Joint efforts to achieve common purposes by sharing resources, responsibilities, and risks across agency lines.
COMMUNITY	A place, or a class of people having something in common that may transcend geography.
COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT	Is both a "process" and an "outcome": A process that builds the capacity of a neighborhood- or population-to set priorities and control resources essential for increasing self-determination. The outcome is increased access to and control over resources-including organizational resources by local residents.
COMPREHENSIVE STRATEGIES	A multi-faceted, holistic-not categorical- approach to solutions.
DIVERSITY	A range of characteristics around which people differ, such as race, language, class, culture, age, gender, sexual orientation, physical and mental ability/disability.
EVALUATION	Includes qualitative and quantitative activities that offer an independent, impartial assessment about what changes actually occurred and the extent to which agreed- upon outcomes were achieved. It provides judgments about the process by which those results were obtained.
GOALS	Broad directional targets to carry out the purpose; the end result.
INDICATOR/BENCHMARK	A measure, for which data is available, that helps quantify the achievement of a result.
MISSION	A brief, clear statement of purpose; tells "why" the organization exists.
NETWORK	A loose-knit group of interconnecting individuals or organizations exchanging information for mutual benefit.
OBJECTIVES	Specific measurable actions by which the goal is achieved, consistent with the purpose, and is time-limited.
OUTCOME OR RESULT	A desired end result and/or change stated in measurable, attainable terms. A condition of well-being for children, families, or communities.
PERFORMANCE MEASURE	A measure of the effectiveness of agency or program service delivery.
PLANNING	The process through which an organized scheme to get something done is developed; decisions that set a course of action.
POLICY	A guideline statement.
PRINCIPLES	Basic standards or set of beliefs that shape behavior or influence choices.
SERVICE INTEGRATION	The allocation of resources by multiple providers of service from similar or different sectors to address the multiple needs of a group of people served in common.
SPA	Service Planning Area.
STAKEHOLDERS	The sum total of individuals and formal and informal networks with a vested interest in the quality of life- social, economic, physical, and spiritual-of a community, population, or neighborhood. [Formal networks = libraries, unions, service agencies, advocacy groups; Informal networks = resident associations, block clubs, consumers]
SYSTEM	Organizations that are linked together in the provision of services/products (e.g. transportation system, K-college education system, child welfare). An interdependent linking of organizations that rely on each other for the exchange of resources.
SYSTEMS CHANGE	A change in the way that people and institutions think and behave to affect fundamentally the types, quality, and level of resources and services available to individuals, families, and communities.
TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE	Can be "substantive" and/or "process-oriented." It includes a wide range of activities performed by an outside person or group, professional or non-professional, that can help a collaborative meet its objectives. Technical assistance can fill knowledge gaps of individuals, organizations, or communities (short term) and/or improve competencies, i.e., individual skills, knowledge, values, attitudes, and orientation (longer term).
VISION	A statement that expresses what a group is trying to build- aspirations to be realized. It conveys an image of the future.